Balancing Work Code vs Personal Code

What’s a good way of balancing to code for work vs code for personal project. I’ve been working on personal project for few months and I’ve noticed that I can only code for so much in a single day. I think I’m averaging around 6~7 hours a day. If I go beyond that I just feel really sick to my stomach. So If I spent that 6 hours toward work then I really can’t invest too much for personal project and vice versa… For example, I coded until 2 a.m. last night and now I feel like crap at work…looking at the code makes me feel like puke. Any advice will be welcomed!

I find I get that way when I don’t watch how much sleep I get. I’ve found I have to just budget time accordingly, and know how much time I have available when estimating, allowing for 10-20% overage for sickness, other obligations or bouts of just plain laziness.

You also have to ensure you budget some downtime, exercise, etc. as well. A human body and brain can only sustain sedentary, mental activities for so long before it starts to negatively react. IIRC, the studies have shown that a five minute break every 90 minutes is more effective than trying to massively cram a large chunk of time…

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That’s really good point. My problem is that once I start coding, I can’t really stop until I finish what I was doing. For example, I can’t quit when there’s a known bug. I’ve tried going to gym but it’s always in my damn head… then that’s how I get to 2 a.m…

One of the hardest lessons to learn in this industry is this: There is no perfect software/website/app. There are always bugs - you just might not have found them yet.

Is the bug causing your software/site/app to break? If yes, then fix it, or find a workaround that can be lived with. If it’s not, it can be fixed tomorrow when you can come at it with a clean frame of mind, and be able to fix it faster. I can’t count the number of times that I’ve struggled with a problem, getting no where, but once I take a break, I either find the solution during the break (which is why I have note taking app on my phone) or I’ll find it as soon as I sit back down to work (plus a half dozen other things which cause me to scratch my head)

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Perhaps, there should be a routine for bug fixes. This way, it’ll become a habbit.

  • Found bug - say ‘oh crap’
  • Fix the bug for 10 min - say ‘wtf’
  • If problem still remains take a 15 min break

There must be some workflow already…haha

If debugging is the process of removing errors
Programming must be the process of inserting them.

My software does not have any bugs; only some unexpected behaviors.

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Too funny

Shoulda called them Generally Recurring Unexpected Behaviors (GRUBs)

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Stop coding. Play video games. Go for a walk.

There’s not really any good solutions other than to just break away from the code.

This is probably the biggest reason I don’t finish my side projects, though. Sometimes I’m just completely burned out for weeks, then lose interest.

Be asleep before 2am. :sleeping:

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I used to be hardcore gamer playing 5~10 hours a week but that all got replaced by coding and learning…haha… Last 2 months, I’ve been hammering on Angular 2 and Firebase.

I try but having a bug before sleep feels like annoying mosquito…haha. I really should just say ‘fawk it, there’s always tomorrow’

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I started playing League of Legends again recently. I shouldn’t have. I spend way too much time on that.

How are you liking Angular 2? Are you using TS?

I’ve played DOTA over 1000 games in last 5 years. I quit about a year ago and what a relief.

Angular 2 is pretty damn awesome. It’s definitely a step up from any front-end MVC framework and TS definitely helps with auto-complete IDE support… freaking finally. I did hear React/Redux is even better but I invested too much into Angular 2. I’ll learn that later.

I learned it from this Udemy course. The author is great and he responds less than 24 hours. Asked ton of questions and he always responds. Worth every penny.
https://www.udemy.com/the-complete-guide-to-angular-2/learn/v4/overview

As a matter of fact, @DaveMaxwell that did cross my mind. We have a similar - strange - way of thinking, eh?

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They say that great minds think alike…or is that insanity is contagious? :hear_no_evil: :see_no_evil: :speak_no_evil:

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